Looking At Ways To Break Underrealm Lich

Guilds of Ravnica preview season kicked off at PAX West last weekend where we now know the shocklands will be back in Standard as well as two of the mythics from Magic's newest set. The first is a planeswalker, Ral, Izzet Viceroy, that Patrick Chapin wrote all about earlier in the week . The other? A Zombie Elf Shaman that I will be writing my entire article about this week.

This is something different than what I've ever done in the past, but I'm excited to spend an entire article diving deep into a single card, focusing on the Standard applications it may have. This is a controversial card as well, as I've seen plenty of people think that it's incredibly good, while others that believe it won't see any play at all. So without further ado, let's take a look at what exactly Underrealm Lich does.

We have a few things to unpack here. Let's start on the outside of the card and work our way in. For a five-mana card to make it in Standard it has to be incredibly good, so already Underrealm Lich has its work cut out for itself. While both the Zombie and Elf tribes are desirable creature types that bump up a cards value, being a 4/3 for five mana is below the going rate for creatures these days. Three toughness in particular is an unfortunate number because it means common red removal spells like Lightning Strike can take care of the card. Thankfully, that's not all the text on the card, so let's continue on.

" If you would draw a card, instead look at the top three cards of your library, then put one into your hand and the rest into your graveyard."

Now we're talking! Every time you would draw a card, you effectively get to cast a Strategic Planning instead. This is a replacement effect, not a triggered ability, so you will no longer draw cards for any reason while Underrealm Lich is on the battlefield. This has plenty of application outside of Standard. For example, with a Sylvan Library on the battlefield you get to look at nine total cards, three at a time, during your draw step and won't put any back on top of your library since you didn't technically draw any. If you're lucky enough you can essentially "go infinite" and mill your entire deck if you have The Gitrog Monster also on the battlfield and are able to mill over a land each time when resolving Underrealm Lich's ability.

There are many other cards besides these two that synergize well with this ability, but that's not what I want the focus of my article to be on today. I just wanted to point out that if you play The Gitrog Monster or any similar deck in Commander, you need to find room for Underrealm Lich. Back to Standard, not drawing cards anymore means you can never lose the game to not having cards left in your library with Underrealm Lich on the battlefield. It also means your Teferi, Hero of Dominaria emblem won't do anything, but I'd be shocked if that was ever an issue.

If we're going to want to take advantage of this ability, we need to be able to draw cards with Underrealm Lich on the battlefield. Besides just untapping with it, this can also be accomplished by waiting a turn or two and casting a cheap card draw spell such as Opt or Chart a Course after Underrealm Lich resolves. We're also going to want to take advantage of the self-milling ability, something I will look towards while designing some test decks later on in the article. What else does Underrealm Lich have to offer?

Looks like Underrealm Lich can also protect itself from non-exile removal at the high cost of four life. This ability looks to be very similar to regeneration, except Underrealm Lich keeps the indestructible ability for the rest of the turn. This ability also reminds me a lot of another current Standard staple:

Both cards are 4/3s and can get exiled easily but are hard to remove otherwise. Underrealm Lich tapping and Rekindling Phoenix going to the graveyard but coming back are pretty similar, neither would be in combat if they are killed beforehand, and both would still be able to attack the next turn. While you don't need to pay four life to save Rekindling Phoenix, you do need both a 0/1 creature to stay alive and for the Rekindling Phoenix to not be exiled from your graveyard. Of course, Rekindling Phoenix costs one less mana and also flies, so if we were just looking at this ability it would be the better card, but Underrealm Lich also provides much more while having a similar body to Rekindling Phoenix. So before you write off the second ability, remember how impactful Rekindling Phoenix has been in Standard so far and how close the two abilities are to each other.

Even though there are only a handful of cards from Guilds of Ravnica previewed at the time I'm writing this, Underrealm Lich is the kind of card that will go up in value when we know more about the role players that will synergize well with it, it's never too early to start designing some potential shells for our new mythic rare. Since Underrealm Lich is both a Zombie and an Elf, maybe there is potential in a tribal deck, so let's start there.

Planeswalkers (3)

Lands (24)

Spells (6)

Even though Dominaria and Core Set 2019 added some powerful Elves into Standard, there aren't enough quality cards for an Elves deck yet. And while Zombies looks better, we're still another couple pieces away. I certainly wouldn't be thrilled about registering Walking Corpse in a Standard tournament, but sadly I prefer it over the other options at the moment. Besides Underrealm Lich, green would be able to provide useful sideboard options to the deck like Naturalize effects.

Even though Underrealm Lich provides card selection which is more valuable the longer the game goes, playing it in an aggressive shell is beneficial as well because when you're the aggressor and less worried about your life total, paying four life to keep this alive isn't as high of a cost. What if we explore another option of playing Underrealm Lich in an aggressive shell?

Planeswalkers (4)

Lands (24)

Spells (4)

Here we're trying to use the explore creatures from Ixalan to ensure we hit our land drops to curve into our planeswalkers, which we should also be able to reliably find. I didn't include very much removal in this deck, similar to B/G Constrictor decks from last Standard season, so that's an issue that the sideboard would need to address. Unfortunately, while we're curving out with creatures there aren't many quality ways to take advantage of the self-milling we are doing, but I'm quite intrigued by one option:

I wasn't excited for Bone Dragon when it was previewed in Core Set 2019 because I thought seven cards would be too many to reliably have in your graveyard; however, there are so many good self-mill options in Standard right now, and it's possible Bone Dragon's time to shine is ahead of us. What if, instead of an aggro plan, we take these explore creatures and self-milling plan up to eleven?

Lands (26)

Spells (9)

The plan with this deck is to get as many lands onto the battlefield as possible and then finish the game off by casting a Sylvan Awakening and attacking with said lands. You need to be careful for Settle the Wreckage which isn't worried about your attacking creatures having indestructibility.

In order to get a ton of lands onto the battlefield, we're using World Shaper and The Mending of Dominaria, which also synergize well together. All of your early creatures fill the graveyard, ramp, and help you stay alive in order to play one of these two spells. You'll want to attack with World Shaper early and often to fill the graveyard, hoping it will die so you get to return the lands from your graveyard to the battlefield. If it does, you then get to use The Mending of Dominaria to return it back to your hand and start over, all while working towards the third chapter which also returns your lands from your graveyard to the battlefield.

If all goes well and you're able to use your creatures as a road block for long enough, you'll be able to cast a Sylvan Awakening with enough lands on the battlefield to attack for lethal in one turn. While these have just been two color decks so far, there looks to be a quality value midrange deck if we add a third color, which is exactly the type of deck I want to play.

Spells (16)

This was a pretty tough deck to build, as the number of different cards I wanted to put in it was really high. The goal is to take advantage of Muldrotha, the Gravetide to be able to treat your graveyard as essentially another hand.

Muldrotha is an incredibly powerful creature, one that I hope will gain even more support from Guilds of Ravnica. Playing a three-color manabase is pretty challenging, and it's likely having a base of two colors and then splashing the third is the way to go. If that's the case, I believe green would be the best splash color in this deck, which would mean moving away from Jadelight Ranger and Thrashing Brontodon and towards more card draw, removal, and counterspells. Karn, Scion of Urza and Treasure Map are other considerations.

I really wish there were more good legendary creatures to fit in this deck because I love the synergy Mox Amber has with Muldrotha by providing an extra mana boost. There isn't enough support for Mox Amber at all unfortunately, especially considering colorless legendaries like Karn, Scion of Urza and Weatherlight don't help the card function.

Only the Beginning

I expect the options with Underrealm Lich in Standard to increase more and more as Guilds of Ravnica continues to be previewed over the next couple weeks. Surveil, undergrowth, and jump-start are all mechanics that care about the graveyard, and Underrealm Lich can expand the graveyard rapidly while also providing the card selection you need to pull ahead. Plus, who knows, maybe there is an off-the-wall interaction that will be good enough for Standard?

Take Lich's Mastery for example. With it on the battlefield, you can't lose the game which is already a good start, but for every life you lose you need to exile a card from your hand, graveyard, or the battlefield. If only there was a fast and efficient way to put more cards into your graveyard to fulfill such a clause! Imagine having these two cards on the battlefield and then casting a Pelakka Wurm and not only gaining seven life but then Lich's Mastery would cause you to draw seven cards, which means Underrealm Lich would allow you to "Strategic Planning" seven times and fill your graveyard and your hand.

I'm not sure how to fit those cards in a deck yet, but it's an interaction
I'll have in my mind as I look through the other Guilds of Ravnica previews coming up. And at this point in the preview season these are the kind of interactions that I want to be knowledgeable of when putting together decks.

Next week we will hopefully know more cards and be able to start designing more coherent decks for week one Standard, but until then, happy brewing everyone!

About Todd Stevens

Todd Stevens is one of the SCG Tour's most consistent players, specializing primarily in Modern. Five straight Open Top 8s, with two wins, when playing Modern from March to July of 2017 helped propel him to win 2017 SCG Tour Player of the Year, a title he's looking to defend in 2018.